Audentis Fortuna Iuvat

I awoke to squeals of surprise and delight around me. I groaned and scrubbed at my eyes before opening them to the blinding light streaming through the open drapes.

Three faces leaned over me, two grinning in excitement and one studying me like I was a corpse.

"You're awake!" Giselle cheered as loudly as her soft voice seemed to allow.

"And here!" Cindy grinned happily.

"Where did you disappear to?" Swan frowned.

I groaned and scrubbed at my eyes again. "I'll explain... soon, just give me a few minutes... or maybe hours... to wake up first."

Giselle and Cindy laughed and walked away but Swan kept looking over me with a frown.

I propped myself up on my elbows. "What's wrong?" I asked.

"You've been away at a very unfortunate time." She answered. "You've missed a lot."

"Like what?"

"Mark." She answered, naming the Praetor, and my friend. "He retired."

"What?" I shot to a sitting position, almost hitting my head against the bunk. "Why?"

She shook her head. "No one knows but they held an election yesterday, the new Praetor wanted to see you as soon as you got back."

"Who is it?" I asked.

She shook her head again. "She wanted it to be a surprise."

I frowned and rolled from under the covers. "I guess I just have to go and see then."

I showered and dressed and went out the door in record time, promising to meet my friends at breakfast. I jogged to the inner city and into the Praetor house, telling the guards I had been summoned, which I guess was true. When I had finally climbed all of the stairs and pushed my way inside the double doors I saw that both of the chairs were occupied by girls in togas; Catie and...

"Reyna?" I asked in surprise.

She raced down from the dais and tackled me in a hug. "Kerri! You're back!" She stood back to study my face. "I knew Dakota would find you!"

I laughed. "He was rather persistent about it! How did all this happen?"

Reyna grinned cheekily. "Magic I guess. Now, I didn't just call you here for fun."

I groaned. "I was hoping that it wouldn't be serious."

She grinned before her expression turned stony. "We need to know why you left. Dakota told us everything you told him about Octavian but that can't have been the only reason."

I shook my head and wiped my hand across my eyes. "I'm not well, you know that. I'm broken, not my body, my mind." Reyna nodded encouragingly and I continued. "My dad, he was the same, I guess. He stressed heaps and was really... sad all the time. Maybe it was contagious, hereditary, I don't know but I'm the same and it hurts. Not just me but everyone around me, all the time."

Reyna hugged me tight and nodded towards Catie who was standing over us on the podium with a letter in her hand.

"We need you to follow orders just this once and give this to our friend in the city." She walked down the steps and handed me the letter. "His office is in the business district, it's painted yellow with a veranda out front, quite easy to find."

I nodded, quite confused but took the letter. "Okay." I hugged Reyna quickly before running out the door and into the business district of the city, my mind burning with curiosity about what was in the letter.

Notes